Ted Rogers dies

Canada’s sports scene lost a significant contributor Tuesday when cable magnate Ted Rogers passed away at his Toronto home. He was 75.

In addition to the cable TV and mobile phone company he founded and built, Rogers also owned the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team – including the Rogers Centre where the team plays its games - and the sports channel Sportsnet.

In 2005, the Rogers company partnered with Bell Globemedia to become the host broadcaster of both the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2012 Summer Games in London and most recently began an initiative to have the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League play regular-season games in Toronto.

Rogers, long listed as one of Canada's wealthiest people, earlier handed over his corporate duties to Horn.

The statement from Rogers Communications said a permanent successor as chief executive officer will be appointed by the company's board, "which intends to form a special committee to lead a search considering internal and external candidates."

The list of potential CEOs is headed by Ted Rogers' son Edward, president of Rogers Cable, as the family retains control of the corporation through multiple-voting shares. Rogers' daughter Melinda, a vice-president of the corporation.

In his recent autobiography, "Relentless: The True Story of the Man Behind Rogers Communications," Rogers described the resistance he faced when he asked his board of directors to invest $500,000 in wireless technology in 1983.

"Every board member voted against me, even my wife," he wrote.

"They forced me to put my own money on the line, which I did. I just knew wireless was the next big thing and I wasn't about to miss it."

Rogers' investment paid off in spades, turning what started out as Rogers Cantel into Canada's largest cellphone company. Today Rogers Communications employs 24,000 people and is worth about $18 billion.

Rogers' early investment in high-speed Internet, making Rogers one of the first cable companies in the world to do so, was a pivotal decision that solidified the company's market presence.

Rogers believed that while only a limited number of people would subscribe to high-speed services initially, the investment would pay off in the long run.